


For a Moment

by Val_Ritz



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 01:19:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/985942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Ritz/pseuds/Val_Ritz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two lovers catch a glimpse of one another. Tagged for implied non-con related to slavery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For a Moment

His muscles screamed as she roused him. The sensation was a comforting constant in his personal little whorl in the maelstrom of hell the world had become. Dully he rose from the foot of her bed, accepting the cursory backhand with a quiet grunt and beginning the arduous task of readying her for the day. Punctuality was paramount in the life of a servant of the Empress, this much he was bitterly aware of. Her hair would always take the longest; after he was done she would insist on mussing it again by way of her morning “servicing,” and he would have to start all over again with the taste of fuchsia on his tongue.

When they finally exited her bedchamber, his dull fog was somewhat pierced by a shock of unusuality. They were headed to the audience chamber instead of the dining room. Evidently someone had come in the night to visit the Empress. Nobody was stupid enough to wake her, but if they were important enough they could usually request an audience first thing in the morning. This must be one of those.

He took his seat at her left hand and sized up this noble. Flair for the dramatic, considering his cape, though not without sufficient substance; a pair of violet scars crossed his face, no doubt worn with pride along with his bright blue glowing weapon. An attendant followed him in, their head bowed in supplication at being brought before the-

...No.

He had to be wrong. He had to be wrong. Two trolls could share horn shape, of course. It was just a shocking coincidence. Nothing more than a ghost of the past.

And then she lifted her head, and jade met bifurcated blue and red. His pump biscuit nearly tore itself in half. His teeth remembered the line of her jaw, still the same after these sweeps of servitude. The pads of his thumbs itched with recognition of her cheeks, more hollow with grief but still beautiful as the night they separated. Her eyes, though... they had been darkling green, emerald on black velvet. Now they were hollow, withdrawn. He knew the look from the mirror each morning, but as their gaze entered its second moment, a spark of life caught and brought them to alarmed recognition. 

Neither of them moved, but the anguish that lingered in their exchange wailed toward the heavens in silent curses and sobs. He could see the rising bile and vitriol in her that he felt in himself as he saw how she carried herself so defensively. Instinctively they saw the pain they each had suffered, the cruelty. They each could neither stomach it nor show any sign of rebellion, and as the coals of their injustice kindled to a roaring flame, a single tear rolled down his cheek. 

The only thing that broke through his reverie was the dismissal of the nobleman, and instantly twin flashes of panic mirrored across their exchange. Desperation coalesced into determination, and he pulled together threads of his frayed psionics once so renowned as to identify him, gathering loose energy and purpose to send a message. Before their eyes were torn apart, a single bolt of consciousness bridged the invisible gap.

Four words, and a lifetime. “I will never forget,” and the soothing feathering of her fingers on his skin, the warm pressure of her lips against his, the autumnal scent of her in a tight embrace, the carefully meted timbre of her voice, the glittering, rippled pools of gold and onyx and jade that made up her eyes. All the things he had left of her, everything that gave him the strength to stagger through another beating.

For a moment he thought she would cry out.

For a moment, he wished he could.


End file.
